BX 9178 
•26 D4 



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'£HE frEjECTEfi 

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CHRISTIAN EMCOUSAGEB: 




TWO DISCOURSES PRE AC HE f* 



IN THIS 



Independent or Congregational Churchy 



CHARLESTON* S. G. 



BY BENJ. M. PALMER, 
One of the Pastors of said Church. 



CHARLESTON, 8. a 

PRINTED BY J. HOFF, NO. 117 I3E.OAD-STREE 

1816, 



2>X<2>l7g 



THE DEJECTED 



CHRISTIAN ENCOURAGED. 



Psalm xliii. 5* Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul? and why 
art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall 
yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my 
God. 

David uttered this apostrophe to his own soul at a time, 
when by the successful rebellion and usurpation of his son 
Absalom, he was driven from his throne and from his home 
a wretched wanderer and exile. The whole of the pre- 
ceding Psalm, which is connected with this, is exquisitely ten- 
der, and peculiarly pathetic. It begins with a declaration 
of his ardent attachment to the ordinances of God's house, 
the privileges of the sanctuary, and most feelingly describes 
the longings of his heart to be restored to the possession, 
and reinstated in the enjoyment, of these interesting means 
of grace. " As the hart panteth alter the water-brooks, so 
panreth my soul after thee O God. My soul ihirsteth for 
God, for the living God ; when shall I come and appear 
before God.'* Alter indulging in this strain of lamen- 
tation, he chides himself, and encourages his expectations, 
by addressing his soul in the language of the text, which 
is twice used in that chapter. 

The book of Psalms has been generally and justly con- 
sidered, as describing with admirable accuracy and fulness, 
those inward exercises of the heart which are common to 
believers in every age, and had they been written but yes- 
terday, 'and written by a christian instead of a Jewish pen, 
they could not have been better adapted than they are, tor 
the use and consolation of Christian believers. It ib the pe- 
culiar honor of the book or Psalms, that it is more luily 
and frequently quoted in the new Testament, than any other 
portion ot theold. How very often have the disciples otChnst 
found themselves, either internally or externally, in a situa- 
tion, to which David's words, which we have selected as 



4 



the topic of discourse, admirably apply. <c Why art thou 
cast down, &c." 

Let us a -certain the most general and frequent causes for 
that dejection and disquietude, under which the children of 
God are found to labour ; and then point out the remedy 
which is here prescribed for the alleviation or removal of this 
distressing state of mind. 

Why then are the friends of God and favorites of heav- 
en subjected to dejection and disquietude? They are so on 
many accounts : some relating to themselves, and some, ap- 
pertaining to others. It may be noticed that we consider 
these words as descriptive of Christian experience; for no 
others but those who sustain a chribtian character can be di- 
rected to the sourse of con olation pointed our here. And 
whatever substantial rest these may acquire when " weary 
and heavy laden they come to Christ" however true it be that 
wisdom'* u ways are pleasantness and her paths peace," on 
the whole, — it is manifest that a perpetual warfare is to be 
maintained notwithstanding. It is singular, that the same 
description of character and course of life should be repre- 
sented in two tuch opposite lights. Yet the scriptures have 
given us this apparently contradictory view of religion, and, 
while we are sometimes to develope in their wide extent the 
safety and happiness of the Chrisrian character and life; we 
are ot others to di play the snares and fears, the sorrows and 
trials, the difficulties and temptations, the inward and the 
outward circumstances, that render Christians conformable 
to their Lord in this, as well as in other respects, that they 
too are " men of sorrows and acquainted with grief. *'* 

Deep dejection and distressing disquietude are often the 
portion of the believer, on account of his occasional sins, 
and his constant infirmities. Though the believer, when 
first brought in the exercise of penitence and the actings of 
fairh, to the Redeemer, is found at the foot of the Cross 
*' abhorring himself and repenting in dust and ashes' 5 — tho* 
with the experience which he at that moment has, that 
"sin is an evil and bitter thing which God hates" and which 
his own soul now detests, he fondly flatters himself that he 
has come to a perpetual divorce from it, and will proclaim 
interminable war against it, yet very soon experience teach- 
es him, that his enemies though discomfited and defeated, 
are not slain, nor are they dispossessed of the whole territo- 



$ 

?y. God seems to have left the best Christians in this world 
in the situation, in which he left the Israelites, after they 
had taken possession of the land of Canaan* 

These descendants of the father of the faithful, to whom 
the promise was given, that " his seed should inherit this 
land," were unequivocally and indisputably masters of the 
country. But the ancient inhabitants were not all exter- 
minated and could not be entirely driven out. In some 
part or other they remained, in spite of all that Israel could 
do to dispossess them. They were tributary, it is true, to 
their Jewish masters, but time after time they made such 
stout and formidable opposition to the new occupants who 
took possession of the territory in the name of the Lord, as 
to give evidence, that they would not forget the claim they 
had on the ground of prior possession. Muck Jewish blood 
was shed, and much treasure expended, in quelling the in- 
surrections and subduing the rebellions which they occasion- 
ally excited. Often were God's chosen people obliged to 
" cry mightily to him" for help against these powerful foes. 

We do not know a better comparison, by which to illus- 
trate that state of things, which takes place in one who has 
been " called out of darkness into God's marvellous light." 
Before this inward and effectual call, the whole territory of 
the heart is in the occupation of u the God of this world," 
There Satan reigns — there is the region of sin — all the af- 
fections of the soul, all the inclinations and purposes and 
propensities of the will are on the side of iniquity, and Tan- 
ged under the banners of one, who has set up a kingdom 
in opposition to the Saviour's. But when such a soul is sub- 
dued to the obedience of faith, a great internal revolution is 
accomplished ; the most cherished idols of the heart become 
objects of disgust and horror, and the astonished, contrirc 
individual exclaims, " What have I to do any more wirh 
Idols?" From this time forth and forever "thou art the 
Lord my God." Such, we say, is the transformation in 
the spirit of the mind, which is accomplished in those, who 
once were " conformed to this world" and w by nature 
children of wrath, even as others." But is the victo y 
which grace has achieved over sin, entire and complete ? 
does it resemble that of the Israelites, who saw all their 
Egyptian enemies, who had been drowned in the Red Sea, 
dead upon the Sea-shore? Alas! no " the Canaanite and 



6 



the Perizzite are still in the land," and they will prove 
** thorns in the eyes and scourges in the sides." The be- 
liever brought to Christ, fondly hopes indeed, in the fervors 
of his fir^t affection to the Lamb that " washed him in his 
blood," that his heart shall never more be the seat of those 
sins, which " crucified the Lord of glory." He believes, 
that now, U renewed" as he is " in the spirit of his mind," 
* fc his mountain shall stand strong, and he never shall again 
be moved." He has only to go forward, and all opposition 
will fall before him. But, like Peter, who in sincere piety, 
yet accompanied with much self ignorance, said to the 
Lord whom afterwards he denied, " though 1 should die 
■with thee, yei will I not deny thee;" the new made Chris- 
ian *oon finds, that " the old man," though he may have 
received his death wound, is not dead, and will be so far 
from immediately or entirely dying, unless the stroke is fol- 
lowed up, he may yet overpower fcC the new man." Many 
Christian^ feel the depravity of their hearts more, after they 
have embraced the Saviour, than they ever did before. 
The subsequent dispensations of Providence, the instructions 
or the word, the increasing illuminations of the spirit open 
more fuliy to their view, what they really are in themselves, 
than any previous advantages they may have enjoyed for 
self acquaintance. It does not follow, that, because a sin- 
ner ha» seen enough of his sinful character and desperate 
case, to constrain him to fly to Christ for refuge, that there- 
fore he has seen the whole of himself. Far from it: This 
discovery and conviction of sinfulnefs sometimes progrefses 
to such a degree, as to make him think, that his former 
views, even those on which he grounded his escape to 
Christ, were efsentially defective; and that he came to the 
Physician too soon, before he had learned all the extent of 
his spiritual disease. He fears, that as his own knowledge 
of his case was not sufficiently thorough, his application to 
the Redeemer could not have been sufficiently cordial and 
sincere, and that he has failed to give that degree of henor 
and credit which was due unto his Lord. He is apt to 
charge himself with presumption, and to apprehend that 
such an unprepared approach can hardly be forgiven. But 
all these exercises, however painful, should rather be con- 
sidered as encouraging than disheartening. There is no 
surer evidence of " growth in grace," than advance in self- 



i 



7 

knowledge and in the humiliation that arises from it. Yet 
dejection and disquietude are often the result of these dis- 
coveries. 

The constant spiritual infirmities, of jwhich the children 
of the highest have ever reason to complain, deject and dis- 
quiet them. Let them attempt to ejigage in prayer, espe- 
cially in secret prayer — what backwardness, what reluctance 
do they often feel — where has the spirit of prayer fled ? and 
without the spirit 9 what signifies the form — without the sen- 
sations and sentiments of prayer, what avail the words} O 
for something that might furnish an excuse to satisfy con~ 
science for its neglect.-r-Such are the Christian's trial* be- 
fore he prays — how gladly would he get away from the du- 
ty altogether. But there is no avoiding it — to the duty he- 
must go— and how is he employed tdere — in the presence 
of the searcher of hearts, in the very act of addressing him, 
scarce a minute elapses, before he detects his thoughts run- 
ning upon the veriest trifle in Creation — again he recalls the 
guilty wanderers, and again before he is aware, they have 
made their second escape from the solemn businefs in hand, 
and are found " with the fool's eyes to the ends of the 
earth" — a third time he rallies them, and a third time they 
are gone. It has not unfrequently been the case, that the 
Christian has been more afflicted with distraction of mind, 
with dissipation of though, with wandering and vain ima- 
ginations in prayer, than at any other season. He can ac- 
quire more composure in any undertaking to which he bends 
his attention than in this. The duty at length is over, and 
a mixture of mortification and congratulation is felt, that 
the task is finished for this time— extreme mortification at 
the unworthy and polluted manner in which it has been dis- 
charged — congratulation, that the drudgery of such a life- 
less senseless service is at an end. 

Would you not suppose,my brethren, that we were des- 
cribing the prayers of the very worst of men, should they be 
supposed to attempt this exercise? We have however given 
you a description, the meaning of which the very best of 
men sometimes know by painful and personal experience. 
Examine the christian on the score of his infirmities on any 
other subject, in which the testimony of his experience can 
be brought to bear, and you will find him the same poor 
wretch in himself. If he wishes to indulge a leisure hour 



■ 

in teaming— -how much more inclination does he often fee! 
to lay nis hand upon a newspaper or a history, than on a 
volume containing religious matter — or if he choose the 
latter, how much more likely to select a human Author, than 
go to the pure biblical fountain. Take him to the house of 
God, and often, could you see his heart, as he feels it himself, 
you would think that the North and South are not farther 
asunder than his heart and his work. And thus it is from time 
to time in every other department of his duty* The table 
of the Lord itself, and all its interesting circumstances and 
connections are yomettmes insufficient to remove his apathy-, 
arouse him from his clumbers, or animate his heart. This 
is to one degree or another the common complaint of christ- 
ian^, witn some indeed more frequently and more deeply 
than others ; but all know well what it means. " I can 
read," (says the excellent and truly spiritual John Newton- 
long aher he had known the grace of God in truth, and 
long after he had preached it too) " 1 can read or write, or 
conver e, or hear with a ready will ; but prayer is more 
spiritual and inward than any of these, and rhe more spiri- 
tual any duty is, the more my carnal heart start* from it/' 
We have no doubt, that this discription of Christian feel- 
ings and Christian exercises must excite the astonishment of 
those who are not, and do not pretend to be, persons of 
pious character. They may be ready to a k, what then 
are christians better than others ? if we could see their hearts* 
it seems, they would be found no better than ourselves : 
what then are all their external pretensions, but mere hy- 
pocrisy? Enquirer of this discripnon, they are not better 
than you by nature, and if by grace their character is chang- 
ed, they are ready to acknowledge, 44 By the grace of God 
we are what we are," and they are not better than you by 
grace, unless that holy influence is continued with them as 
well as imparted to them. Left to themselves, even after 
being for years attached to the Saviour and rejoicing in him, 
they would soon " make shipwreck" of all that they have 
ielt, of all they have believed, of all that they have known, 
of all they have enjoyed. But the difference, the wide, 
the boundless difference between you and them is, that, 
while you go on perfectly secure and easy, though con- 
scious that y< u feel nothing and love nothing in true reli- 
gion, — while the listlebsness about or this aversion to the 



9 



exercises of piety gives you no concern, — while you sleep 
with as much indifference and rise again with as much calm- 
ness, as though your " heart were right with God," the 
case is otherwise with them. They know not a greater 
hell on earth than to be in this situation — it sits as easy upon 
you, as though it were your heaven. They cannot bear 
these distractions in duty — these wanderings of soul, this 
stupor, this insensibility — it is their guilt, their grief, their 
shame, their burden, their curse. On account of it, they 
" go mourning all the day long." Under it, they cry out in 
anxiety and in agony " O that I were as in months past!" 
" O that 1 knew where I might find him!" Yes, their 
* c soul is cast down and disquieted within them" on account 
of these things. 

The imperfection of their characters again is a source of 
considerable uneasiness to the true children of God. There 
is not a greater mystery in Creation or in Providence, than 
that God should suffer his dear children, whom he has re- 
deemed to himself by the blood of Christ, to remain so 
much under the influence of something or other that is sin- 
ful, in heart or in life. He could easily render them as ho- 
ly as the angels in heaven, and deliver them from the pain- 
ful apprehension that too often agitates them, at the preva- 
lence of their corruptions. I shall one day fall by the 
hand of mine enemy," they involuntarily exclaim, at findings 
that " when they would do good, evil is present with them." 
How rarely is the Christian to be found, with regard to 
whom when we say (as we may say of multitudes) he is a 
very excellent man, it is not in our power to qualify what 
we have said, by at least a solitary but, — but he is too much 
attached to the love of money — but, he is too apt to be 
overcome by the impetuosity of his temper — but he is too 
imprudent in the use of his tongue — but he is too unfor- 
giving, too impatient of opposition, too unsubmissive in 
affliction, too elated with his excellencies, too addicted to 
censoriousnefs, too untender, or something or other which 
is left to prove that u the best of men are but men at the 
best." But, whatever be the " spots of God's children," 
whatever the " sins" that most sorely or mo^t " easily be- 
set them," they 66 water their couch with their tears" on 
account of them; their heart knows its own bitterness on 
these accounts, and they must all be glad to meet Christ in 

B 



It) 



death as thev met him, when first doling with the offers of 
hu grace— 44 God be merciful to me a sinner." After our 
be >t and highest attainments upon earth, on no other ground 
than that of mercy, can we hope to enter heaven. That 
everlasting fcC rest which remains for the people of God" 
will on no account be more desirable, than on this, that ir will 
be a rest from *in. In anticipation of it, the struggling 
wearied believer, " cast down and disquieted in his soul," 
more than once exclaims during his pilgrimage, " O that 
I had the wings of a dove; for then would 1 fly away and 
be at rest." 

" Sin, my worst enemy before, 

Shall vex my eyes and ears no more; 
My inward foes shall all be slain, 

Nor Satan break my peace again." 

The last line of this descriptive stanza reminds us of another 
reason why the souls of Christians are cast down and dis- 
quieted within them. viz. 

7 he buffetings and temptations of Satan. The doctrine 
of extraneous and supernatural influence both good and bad 
upon the human soul, appears to be as cleat lv revealed in 
scripture, as almost anv point whatever. C rittcism has in- 
deed explained them both away, and we are too apt, both 
in our public discourses and in our private conversations, 
to speak and act, as though by general consent they were to be 
expunged, as tooridiculous for the wisdom, or too humbling 
to the dignity, of modern times. It is seldom we ever hear 
religious per:*ons speak, as though either the spirit ot God 
or 4h the : pirit that now worketh in the children of disobe- 
dience," had any thing to do with them. We often think 
it arrogant to lay claim to the former — we feel ashamed to 
admit the latter. But both have the strong attetation of 
the holy volume: The fubtle tempter never plies his temp- 
tations with more succefb than when he contrives to '* ftrike 
and hide his hand," to suggest and urge his schemes, but 
conceal himself. Thofe who deny his influence are of all 
persons the most likely to be completely under it. It is in- 
deed generally difficult, and may be often impossible, for 
us to distinguish between the workings of our own depra- 
vity or the thoughts and reasonings of our own minds, and 
(those suggeftions and impressions which wicked spirits may 
^be capable of making on our minds. But unquestionably, 



11 



many of the severest internal trials, to which believers ar£ 
subjected, owe their origin and their rancor to the malicious 
and mischievous interference of the powers of darkness. 
In those cases especially, when the most horrible and blas- 
phemous thoughts, at which every feeling and principle of 
the soul revolts, are wirh a kind of officious violence for- 
ced upon it, — when it strives to its utmost to avoid the e 
pestilential suggestions, but still is worried with them, there 
can be no difficulty or uncertainty in referring them to him, 
who " as a roaring Lion goeth about, seeking whom he 
may devour." His they are, and if we do not give them 
voluntary admission and entertainment, his will be all the 
guilt attached to them, and all the woe consequent upon 
them. They are distressing, but will not be destructive, to 
the mind that abhors them. Yet, because believers are 
thus " in heaviness through manifold temptations/' their 
" soul is cast down and disquieted within them." 

A similar depression of mind arises from the afflictions 
vf life. So much of our mortal course is consumed in the 
sorrows we experience from bodily uneasiness, from world- 
ly losses, from sympathy with the distresses of friends, or 
from bereavement by their removal in death, that like Ja- 
cob most persons may say, " Few and evil have the days of 
the years of my life been." When billow after billow 
rushes over us, and we appear to be "set up as a mark 
for the arrows" of the Almighty to be aimed at, it is hard- 
ly possible, particularly if faith becomes enfeebled, that our 
souls should be otherwise, than "cast down and disquiet- 
ed within us." 

The drooping state or discouraging prospects of the church 
of the Redeemer furnish grounds too for the complainings 
ot the upright. The Lord Jesus being himself "pre- 
cious to believers," they naturally feel a lively interest in 
every thing that concerns the progrebS and promotion oi 
his empire in the world. Jerusalem cannot be forgo f te<i by 
her genuine children; sooner shall " their right hand for- 
get its cunning, and their tongue cieaveto rhe roof of their 
mouth, than they cease to prefer Jerusalem above thtir 
chief joy." 

The moral state of the world, compared with the require- 
ments of its " builder and maker," must produce the .same 
discouraging and disquieting effects upon their spirits. 



12 



When it is considered, that the gospel is the only instru- 
ment of Salvation,— that faith in Jesus is the principle of 
divine life,— and that this very faith is " the gitt ot God" 
and the operation of his spirit ; how must the heart of one 
that believes these things, be affected and oppressed with the 
inedibility, that is manifested on this subject by the far 
greater part of those with whom he has intercourse. Among 
these, are many, that are the associates of his life, the par- 
takers of his own blood, his " kinsmen according to the 
flesh." To see them every moment liable to death, yet 
making and having made no preparation for it — to know, 
that he himself cannot help them, and that nothing but the 
influence of the spirit can, — to see them making no exer- 
tions to obtain this influence, — and to be filled with anxiety 
on account of their latter end as well as his own, these con- 
siderations overwhelm and tumultuate the soul. What a 
prospect does this world present to him who takes his views 
ot things from the representations of the Bible. Daily his 
fellow-men are descending to the tomb. — Of the vast multi- 
tudes that thus " go down to the house appointed for all liv- 
ing," how small comparatively is the number, whose course, 
there is reason to believe, has terminated w r ell. The world 
seems to present to view an extensive prison, out of which 
many criminals are daily taken for execution. Many are 
u the wicked" that " are driven away in their wickedness," 
and tew " the righteous" that " have hope in their death-" 
To feelings of genuine benevolence, and such in the high- 
est degree every Christian ought to be possessed of, the con- 
templation of such scenes as these must be exquisitely af- 
fecting and overpowering. Take any one of these causes 
for dejection and disquietude that have been mentioned, and 
it will appear ot itself sufficient to produce such a state of 
mind. Take them all together, and it would appear, that 
christians must " ot all men be the most miserable." But 
we have seen as yet only the dark side of this picture. 
There is a more cheering prospect yet to be presented. 
Materials for its formation are to be drawn from the exhor- 
tation which the Psalmist admininisters to his own soul in 
the conclusion of the verse. " Hope thou in God ; for I 
shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance 
and my God." But this must be reserved for another op- 
portunity. Amen. 



13 



SERMON II. 

Psalm xliii. 5. Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul? and why 
art thou disquieted within me ? hope thou in God^ for I shall 
yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my 
God* 

The depth of dejection into which the sincerest chris- 
tians sometimes sink — the disquieting apprehensions which 
occasionally agitate their hearts and interrupt their peace, 
together with some of the causes that give rise to this tu- 
multuous state of mind, have already been the subject of 
enquiry and meditation. We have seen the believer in the 
shade of discouragement — but we ought not to leave him 
there : for the word of God does not, but declares that 
" unto the upright there ariseth light in darkness." "Hope 
in God," says David to his soul, in the midst of its com- 
plaints: " for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of 
my countenance and my God." We are brought then to 
consider the remedy provided for these distrefsing evils* 
That remedy is hope. How many uneasy hours might the 
children of God entirely escape — -and under how many, 
which are not altogether unavoidable, might they be render- 
ed considerably tranquil and serene, were the grace of chris- 
tian hope but in that degree of exercise, which the scrip- 
tures of truth abundantly authorize. The hope of the wil- 
fully wicked is the most unauthorized presumption: The 
hope of the ungodly, whatever be ics foundation, shall per- 
ish. But, with those who are tremblingly alive to the glory 
of the divine character, who are humbly and penitently- 
conscious of their own guilty character, and desirous of sal- 
vation from it and from the consequences it entails, in such 
a way as shall be consistent with all the perfections of Je- 
hovah; with these, hope is a rational and consistent princi- 
ple. To them it proves " an anchor sure and stedfast," to 
prevent them from being wrecked by either their tempo- 
ral or spiritual trials. Hope looks forward to a brighter 
day, in which the darkness of the present night being ef- 
fectually and eternally dispelled, 64 the sun of righteousness 
will an. e" on the now disconsolate soul, " with healing in 
his beams." When we can say in the time of our distrefs, 



14 



however long this distress has continued ; and however e£- 
q'uisite it has been, " 1 shall yet praise him;" what an al- 
most aimighty efficacy has such a persuasion to soothe and 
calm the agitated heart. " 1 shall yet praise him," 1 can- 
not say when — pt rhaps not to morrow — perhaps not next 
year — and perhaps not even in this life— but the time will 
come, either here or hereafter, when my tongue, that is 
now by my sufferings sealed in silence, and made to " cleave 
to the roof of my mouth," shall be " as the pen of a Tea- 
dy writer," shall fully and feelingly and perpetually express 
my obligations to delivering goodness, my immense indebt- 
edness to redeeming mercy. Therefore " though he slay 
me, yet will I trust in him." Let us take the true believer 
then in any of the various stage?, or in any of the various 
kinds of his complaint*, a^ they were stated in the former 
discourse. U it the constant and lamented imperfection 
that adheres to and that defiles all his services — is it the open 
actual sin, into which he is occasionally surprised by sud- 
den temptation from without, or betrayed by corruption 
from witnin, that makes him " haag his harp upon the 
willow, and refuse to sing the Lord's song in a strange 
land ?" Is he filled with confusion at the selfishness, the 
vanity, the iukewarmness, the distraction and division of 
soul that often infest him in his best attempts to . serve the 
Saviour that bought him with his blood ? This is truly try- 
ing to a mind upon the whole ingenuous, and that feels, and 
is never unwiiling to confess, how much it owes to the mercy 
of the Father, and the merits of the Son. Is the complaint 
made by such a .soul, a complaint of the barrenness of its 
services, the langour of its afiecrions, the slowness and un- j 
certainty of its spiritual progress, the inadequacy of the 
returns it attempts to make? In addition to these standing 
testimonies against itself, is it obliged to confess, that some- 
times its vows have been forgotten, its Lord has been deni- 
ed, the interests of the Saviour injured, his cause impeded 
and himself and his disciples wounded through some foul 
miscarriage, ot its own? In this case it will " seek where 
to weep," it will with Peter, similarly situated, " weep bit- 
terly." And if, in the course of Providence, as generally 
happens, its k4 sin is made to find it out," being rendered 
legible in the suffering., it has drawn atter it, such a *oul will 
acknowledge it is meet to say M I will bear the chastise- 



15 

ment of the Lord, because I have sinned against him." 
But, while thus whelmed in reasonable sorrow, acknow- 
ledging his desert of that temporal trouble that has befallen 
him, or that inward agony that rends his soul, such a chris- 
tian should still find ground to say, " Hope thou in God • 
for I shall yet praise him." His construction ought to be' 
j " God is ju§t in what he has brought upon me"— -because 
jl I am a child, he sees fit to chasten and correct me now for 
| my humiliation and my profit, that " I may not be con- 
demned with the world." David, we find, did not complain, 
j that the disquietude and dejection he now was in, were un- 
deserved ; but he believed, that mercy would one day tri- 
I umph over what now appeared to be judgment, and that 
! tie should yet know experimentally and personally the joys 
of God's salvation, » He was afflicted from his youth up, 
and while he suffered the Almighty's terrors he wasdLtrac- 
I ted." Yet still he could add in the language of Paul 46 Cast 
down but not destroyed, afflicted but not forsaken, persecu- 
ted but not in de-pair." In the midst of his cheerlefs moans, 
he strikes at least one note that borders upon cheerfulness, 
by adding " I shall yet praise him." 

• When the heart of the true Christian is exposed to his 
view in all its native spiritual nakedne/s — when its deformi- 
ty is seen with increasing clearnefs, and felt with keener sen- 
sibility, an effect that ever must follow the growing discov- 
eries made by the inward illumina ion of God's spirit in 
conjunction with the outward instructions of his word., 
even "growth in grace'' may be mistaken for increase in de- 
pravity. It is not so much the evil we discover in our 
hearts, as the manner in which we are affected by that dis- 
covery, that must decide our spiritual state and character. 
It does not follow, that because we j** in our natures more 
wickedness, than we discerned a year ago, or than we were 
conscious of, when firfl we made our application to the Re- 
deemer's blood for pardon, we are actually more guilty no w 
than we were then — it is that we see farther into ourselves 
than we ever did before — and if, with the comparatively im- 
perfect view we once had of ourselves, we discovered how 
desirable and necefsary it was to be interefted in the Saviour, 
" in whom all fulnefs dwells," — if we discovered even then, 
how precious an object of faith and trull: he was ; how 
much more endeared ought he to be to our heartsnow, when 



16 



further self-acquaintance has brought us more than ever to 
know and feel, that we are " poor and miserable and wretch- 
ed and blind and naked." Inftead of saying, in the difqui- 
etude and dejection of our souls, " my fins are too great to 
be forgiven," we should plead their greatnefs as the very 
argument, why the God of all grace, why the Saviour who 
* fc has power on earth to forgive fms," should remit them. 
Precifely such was David's argument, which he plead in 
prayer in the 25 Pfalm 1 ith verfe " For thy name's fake, O 
Jehovah, pardon mine iniquity ; for it is great." A siiigu- 
lar reafon we mould think, on which to found a plea. 
Many people hope to be forgiven on the ground, that their 
feis are not great, that they "are not as other men," that 
there is fome grand and efsential diftinction between them 
and many others they could name, — that while thefe latter 
are " finners that need repentance" and require an atone- 
ment, they are "just persons who need no repentance," or 
whose sins are comparatively so trivial, that they may be 
pardoned without the Saviour's sacrifice. 

But they, whose religion is internal; who know that 
<c out of the heart proceed the issues of life;" that " God's 
commandment which is exceeding broad" has primary and 
principal reference, to its thoughts, desires, purposes and 
motives; who feel, that the " heart itself is deceitfull above 
all things and desperately wicked;" who believe therefore, 
that no scheme of religion is worth a farthing as to its influ- 
ence on another world, that does not make the heart its 
immediate and its main object, — these ought to say to their 
soul, covered, as they behold it to be, with pollution, and 
stained with guilt " Hope in God; for I shall yet praise 
him." Mary Magdalene "loved much," because "much had 
been forgiven her." Her transgressions were probably of an 
external and gross kind; but the devout, the moral, the 
upright, the Pharisaical Paul, found, " when the com- 
mandment came" in all its power and spirituality to his 
heart, that " sin revived and he died'* — that even he, like 
Mary Magdalene, had " much to be forgiven," and was 
under obligations to " love much." And therefore when he 
proclaims it as " a faithful saying and worthy of all accepta- 
tion, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnner ;" 
he addb, as the best and brightest evidence of the fact that 
he was capable of producing, " of whom 1 am chief." And 



it is the natural and necessary effect of the illumination of 
the divine spirit, to make the subject of its influence feel 
and believe, that he must be the very worst of characters in 
the sight of God — has most abused his goodness — most 
desphed his love — and must be, if a saint at all, u less than 
the least of all saints." Every heart, that has been convin- 
ced of sin, " knows its own bitterness," while it cannot 
pry into " the gall and wormwood" of another 5 s state, whd 
perhaps feels equally guilty, and is equally distressed. 

But all such are called upon to " hope in God,'* and to 
believe, that they " shall yet praise him" for u casting their 
sins oehind his back," for " burying them in the depth of 
the sea." " Looking unto Jesus" is the exercise, in which 
every soul, that is tc cast down and disquieted" on account 
of sin, should be found employed, " There hangs all hu- 
man hope" — " that nail supports our falling universe :" 
" that gone, we drop." Looking to Christ, and to God 
through him, as " reconciling the world unto himself," is 
the sublime, the sweet and salutary employ, in which every 
convinced sinner should engage, whether in the first stages 
of his conviction, or when convinced anew, and more deep* 
ly than ever, of the evil of sin, long after having made ap- 
plication to u the blood of sprinkling which cieanseth from 
ail sin." This is the " fountain opened for sin and for un- 
cleanness" eighteen centuries ago, and whose virtues will 
last, it the world is to endure so long, eighteen centuries to> 
come. Here David bathed his guilty soul, while his faith 
anticipated what his pen"predicted — in this Job realized his 
meaning, when he said " I know that my Redeemer liveth." 
Here were found, in the attitude of faith and hope, all those, 
who Cb came out of great tribulation and washed their robes 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." 

" The dying thief rejoic'd to see, 

That fountain in his day; 
And there may we tho' vile as he, 

Wash all our guilt away." 

And as this great Redeemer, and that great salvation 
which he effected by his " obedience unto death," is the 
hope of the penitent and contrite, when first constrained to 
flee from the wrath to come; so is it the hope of those 
spiritual pilgrims, who are travelling forward in much dis- 
quietude and discouragement, to the Canaan above, "faint;, 

c 



18 



yet pursuing" is the motto, that may be written on the fore- 
head of a large proportion of those who " name," and 
name sincerely too, " the name of Christ." ' Tis their boun- 
den duty to " depart from iniquity," and as far as it relates 
to their outward general conduct, unless they do so, and 
sustain a very reputable character in the sight of men, for 
honesty, justice, sincerity, integrity, humanity, and every 
virtue that constitutes morality ; their profession is vain, 
entirely vain — they are " yet in their sins." But, very 
many, who have nothing, and who ought ever to have no- 
thing, to reproach themselves with on this score, are far 
from being satisfied, that they are " perfecting holiness" as 
they ought, " in the fear of God." Their deficiencies hum- 
ble them — their love of the world alarms them — the weak- 
ness of their faith, the coldness of their love, the languor 
of their zeal, the defectiveness of their obedience, the pov- 
erty of their spiritual enjoyments, and the leanness and bar- 
renness of their souls, ail contribute to induce them to 
"write bitter things against themselves," and to fear, that 
<6 they have no part nor lot in the matter/' It is to these 
the word of consolation is commanded to be addressed, 
" Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people ; saith your God." 
To these we would say, " Hope in God j for you shall yet 
praise him, who is the health of your countenance and 
your God.'' These we would recommend to bear in mind, 
that their Redeemer is also their Intercessor ; that in this 
latter interesting character, he is at present acting in our 
nature, as well as in his own, at the right hand of God* 
On this fact of his intercession, the Apostle founds the 
6ertainty of the salvation of believers through every extre- 
mity. " He is able to save unto the uttermost all that come 
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make interces- 
sion for them/' "Unto the uttermost — their lies the emphasis 
of the passage — unto the uttermost — that is the marrow of 
the sentiment. Every Christian believes, and finds little 
hesitation in believing that " Christ has redeemed us from 
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Every 
Christian is satisfied, that pardon for all repented sin is sure. 
But what is to be done,t hey ask, when after having come, 
as they supposed, in all the ardor of love, in all the fixed- 
ness of faith, in all the contrition of penitence to lmmanu- 
el's arms, we find our hearts again " like a deceitful bow, 



19 



turning aside." What is to be done, when we see and 
feel so much inconsistency , so much contradiction within! 
when we are 

" Now hot, now cold, now freeze, now burn!" 
What is to be done with that <4 law in our members which is 
always warring against the law of our minds!". -what are we 
to think of ourselves in those periods in which, " when we 
would do good, evil is present with us!" when " the r good 
that we would, we do not, and the evil that we would nor, 
that we do," Can we be christians and have all this conflict ? 
Christians, and have all this contradiction of character about 
us? Christians and yet obliged to cry out " Q wretched 
that we are, who shall deliver us from the body of this 
death?" Yes, you can be Christians, -and feel all these sor- 
rows, and surfer all these conflicts, and make all the^e com- 
plaints too, provided, you can in sincerity say, " Now then 
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me" — 
provided you can conscientiously attest, that you " delight 
in the law of God after the inward man" ^-provided you 
loathe this state of things and yourselves on account of it, 
and can feelingly exclaim " woe is me, that I live in Me- 
shech and sojourn in the tents of Kedar"— provided you are 
incessantly labouring to " lay aside every weight and the 
sin that so easily beset you, and endeavouring to run with 
patience the race set before you." Under these circumstan- 
ces, the Christian is to look unto Jesus, sustaining the de- 
lightful character of his Intercessor, and saving to the utter- 
most through all this tempest and this sea of conflict, those 
that not only have once come, but continue every day to 
" come unto God by him." Continue to " flghr the good- 
ly fight of faith," and the great " Captain of your salva- 
tion," under whose banners you have enlisted, and whose 
cause you have espoused, and who has not sent you on this 
" warfare at your own charges," will make you at last 
" more than Conquerors." " Hope in God for you shall 
yet praise him for the health of his countenance." Let it 
continue to be your prayer cc Lord, lift up the light of thy 
countenance upon me," and this prayer being answered, as 
it will be sooner or later, you will exchange for this song of 
praise, " Thou has put joy and gladness in my heart, more 
than in the time when the corn and wine and oil of the 
wicked have most abounded," 



20 



We noticed in the former discourse the temptations of 
Satan as another source of those disquietudes under which 
the faithful sometimes labour, but as these in their ordina- 
ry operation are with much difficulty to be distinguished from 
our own thoughts, and in their oxtraordinary attacks have 
been already noticed, we shall only say at present, that the 
same " Son of God who was manifested to destroy the works 
of the Devil," has promised in his word that Satan shall be 
" bruised under the feet'* of his saints, if thry, instead of 
yielding to, will resist the Devil, that he may flee from them. 
He that trembled at the sight of Jesus when on earth, and 
exclaimed " art thou come hither to torment us before the 
time," must instantly leave his work of malignity and mis- 
chief at the command of that Intercessor on whose name 
and for whose help we are authorized to call. 

Those cccabional desertions too, to which the sincerest of 
God's children are sometimes liable, after having enjoyed 
his friendship and had communion with him, in his institu- 
tions, are scenes, in which the soul, however disconsolate, 
ought to find it " good both to hope and quietly wait for 
the salvation of God." " For a small moment have I for- 
saken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a 
little wrath have I hiu my face from thee for a moment, but 
with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee, saith 
the Lord thy Redeemer. " These are ca^es, in which like 
Abraham, we are to "hope, even against hope ? ' — only God 
can bring relief, which he may do, by the instrumentality 
of his word or some other mean, or by the immediate "man- 
ifestation of himself to the soul, as he doc not unto the 
world." To such we would say 66 thougn the fulfilment 
of his promise tarry, wait for it, it will surely come, it will 
not tarry." — Do not say ct 1 am a hypocrite,'' while your 
very anxiety about it proves you are net — do not say, " I 
am r ot a child of God at all," when your very crying after 
him is just as good, though not as comfortable an evi- 
dence of it, as if you were rejoicing in him. 

Do not say, you have greviously sinned in believing your- 
self a christian \* hen, as subsequent evidence you think has 
convinced you, you were not. lor even if the case be ?o ? 
as your desponding mind has represented it, still for this 
y< ur mistake, allowing that it is chargable to you, as for 
every other that is discerned and repented cf, you " have 



an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 
To his bleeding heart resort, to hi* affectionate and friend- 
ly heart repair— take of the waters of life and drink them 
freely. Do not more dishonour him by unbelief, than you 
can possibly do by any other sin with which in you present 
conscientiousness you think you have to charge yourself* 
" Tossed with tempest'* as you are, " and not comforted," 
go, as well as you can, if you cannot go as well as you 
would, to him who " knows your fame," who sees your 
sorrows, who witnesses your temptations, and who was him- 
self " tempted in all points as we are, only without sin." 
He knows how " to succour them that are tempted," and 
wherr he brings such sufferers through the fires of tempta- 
tion, he will cause them to retain a more lively lasting re- 
membrance of his unfailing love. Say then to your soul, 
" why art thou cast down O my soul? and why art thou 
disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet 
praise him 9 who is the health of my countenance and my 
God." 



